GrandMaster blitz tactics

White to play and win

2 GMs were playing blitz online (3 minutes + 0 secs) and the following position appeared, with White to Play.

Because this game wasn't played in a official tournament, the position above is unlikely to have been published anywhere !

Of course, Shredder, Fritz or Rybka would be able to help , should you need some advice .

Playing White was GM Sergey Zhigalko, and he found the winning move in 11 seconds. Very impressive !

Amber Chess 2009: Aronian wins in Nice !

Levon Aronian, Nice winner Amber Edition 2009

By drawing his two games against Topalov today, Levon Aronian won the combined 2009 Amber tournament. This is the second win in a row for the armenian grand master, as he won last year's combined Amber event as well.

Levon Aronian overall winner in Amber 2009 !

The tournament was incredibly strong this year, with the participation of Anand,Kramnik,Topalov,Carlsen,Morozevich,Karjakin and many other top GMs.

I think that Aronian's success lies in very strong middle-game skills both from a tactical and strategic standpoint, the ability to save or turn around compromised positions ( see rapid game against Carlsen for instance), finding counter-chances and making superb practical decisions especially in complex positions, and excellent nerves & self-control in time-trouble.

A great example today was his move 32..Re8! in the blindfold Topalov-Aronian.
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1541024


Finally Aronian has developed a well-thought out opening repertoire with 1d4 as main weapon for White (with also 1.c4 and 1Nf3 as alternatives). As Black, he can play 1..e5 or 1..c6 against 1.e4, and favors the Slav against 1.d4.

Kramnik, Anand and Carlsen were also in the running for first place during the tournament.
This year's event produced numerous exciting battles, including the blindfold tournament, which showed that top grandmasters can play fast and accurately without a chessboard, which I find personally very impressive. Only a few blindfold games were decided by blunders, with the vast majority displaying quality chess !



Official Website and Final Standings :
http://www.amberchess2009.com/

Excellent coverage also at :

http://www.chessvibes.com/ (with on-site videos)

http://www.chessgames.com/

http://www.theweekinchess.com/

Toward the end, Europe-Echecs provided on-site coverage as well:
http://www.europe-echecs.com/

Carlsen-Kramnik Blindfold Brilliancy (10)

Another brilliant game at Amber, this time Vladimir Kramnik produced a blindfold masterpiece !

[Event "Amber Blind"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2009.03.25"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen,M"]
[Black "Kramnik,V"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E32"]
[Opening "Nimzo-Indian"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. e4 d6 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. Ne2 Ba5 8.O-O Bb6 9. d5? Nb4 10. Qd2 exd5 11. cxd5?! Ng4! 12. Bb1 Qh4 13. Qf4 f5! 14. exf5Bxf5 15. h3 Bxf2+ 16. Kh1 Bd7 17. Qg5 Bc5! 18. Rxf8+ Rxf8 19. Ng1 Rf1! 20.Bxh7+ Kh8 0-1

After 13..f5!


Comments :

5 e4 !? is a interesting attempt to deviate from main lines of 4 Qc2

7..Ba5!? Kramnik relocating the bishop to b6 to attack d4

7 Nf3 instead of 7 Nge2 has the advantage of controlling h4, which was a factor in the game

8 a3!? to prevent Nb4 and prepare b4, without castling was probably an improvement on the game 8 0-0.

9 d5? more cautious was 9 Be3 Ng4 10 h3 Ne3 11fe3 Qg5 12 Rf3



11 Nd5 was probably better than the game's 11 cd5.

12 Bb1 sounds passive but 12 h3? Ne5 13 Bb1 Bxh3! with idea Nf3+

14 ef5?, it was better to admit that Black's attack is dangerous and play 14 Qg3

15 Bf5 was not possible because of 15..Rf5! 16 Qg3 as 16 Qf5 is met by Qh2 #.

Instead of 20 Bh7+, 20 Nce2 Bg1 21 Ng1 Rg1+! 22 Kg1 Qe1 is Checkmate

20 Bh7+ was a cheap trick, as 20..Kh7?? is met by Qxh4+, but Kramnik correctly played Kh8 of course.

Full Game replayable here:
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1541010

Amber 2009 opening ideas

Interesting opening ideas in Amber 2009


Rapid tournament:

Aronian-Leko (2) West-Indian
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Qc2 Bb7 6. Bg2 c5 7. d5 !?
Also played in Topalov-Anand Bilbao 2008 and Nielsen-Heinemann 2008.

Carlsen-Ivanchuk (2) E32 Nimzo Qc2
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 Nc6 5. Nf3 d6 6. Bd2 a5 !?

Leko-Morozevich (7) Caro-Kan
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Ng5 Ngf6 6. Bd3 e5 !?

Kramnik-Anand (8) E32 Nimzo Qc2
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 d5 !? 7. cxd5 Ne4 !?
Other moves for White would be 7.Bg5 or 7.Nf3 where Black can try 7..dc4 8 Qc4 b6 !? with idea ..Ba6 just like in Morozevich-Topalov (blindfold round 4)

Blind Tournament:

Kramnik-Morozevich (1) Gruenfeld
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bf4 Bg7 5. e3 c5 6. dxc5 Qa5 7. Rc1 dxc4 8.Bxc4 O-O 9. Nf3 Qxc5 10. Bb3 Nc6 11. O-O Qa5 12. h3 Bf5 13. Ng5 !?

Morozevich-Wang (2) Petroff
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. O-O Be78. Re1 Bg4 9. c3 f5 10. Qb3 O-O 11. Nbd2 Na5 12. Qc2 Nc6 13. b4 !?

Leko-Kamsky (5) Double fianchetto-Hedgehog for Black.
1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nf3 b6 !? 4. Bd3 Bb7 5. O-O d6 6. c3 e6 !? 7. Re1 Ne7 8.Nbd2 Nd7 9. Nf1 a6

Anand-Radjabov (6) Sicilian Rossolimo
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg7 6. h3 b6 7. O-O e5 8.a3 !?

Anand-Kramnik (8) Petroff
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 Nxe4 4. Bd3 d5 5. Nxe5 !? Nd7 6. Nxd7 Bxd7 7. O-OBd6 8. c4 c6 9. cxd5 cxd5 10. Nc3 Nxc3 11. bxc3 O-O 12. Qh5 !?
Also 5 de5 is a valid alternative in the Petroff

Anand-Kramnik Amber Tactics 2009 - Round 8

White to play and win

Anand-Kramnik , Amber Blindfold (8)

Anand won the blindfold game and drew the rapid , to win the mini-match 1.5-0.5

Round 7 at Amber : Tactics !

Radjabov-Kamsky, Amber Blindfold (7)

White to play a strong move !

17.?

Leko-Morozevich , Amber Rapid (7)

White to play and win (easy!)

40.?

Tournament Standings :
Anand to face Kramnik tomorrow in a key match, as the two players currently lead the combined tournament at Amber

Today's tactical position at Amber 2009

How did White surprise his opponent in the position below ?

Anand-Ivanchuk, Amber 2009 (5), White to play

Answer: see 34th move from Anand

http://www.amberchess2009.com/

Tactics in Amber 2009

Position I
Karjakin-Topalov (round 2) White to play and win



Position II: Morozevitch-Topalov (4). White to win.


Position III ; Black to move
Topalov-Morozevich (4). Why didn't Black take on g5 with the queen but played 1..Qb7 here ?

Answer for III:

1..Qg5? 2 Qf7+ Kh7 3 Re3 Bd7 4 Rg3! Qf6 5 Qg8+ Kh6 6 Qh8# would be a neat finish. 4..Bg4 may

be better in this variation but 5 Ne3 answers it. If Black tries 5..Re7 then 6 Qg8+ intermediary check wins.

Black avoided it by playing 1..Qb7 but lost eventually. Game followed with 2 Ng3 a4?! while 2..b4 was an interesting alternative ( 3 ab4 ab4 4cb4 Ne6!, bringing the knight to the defense ).

Official site: http://www.amberchess2009.com/

More photos from Amber

V. Ivanchuk, during an interview after his drawn match with Kamsky yesterday

Carlsen Family : Magnus and Henrik

Top 10 Photos from Amber Chess 2009 ( March 17, 2009)

Peter and Sofia Leko

Aronian and Anand (Their two games were drawn today)

Levon Aronian, happy with his play so far




http://www.amberchess2009.com/ for the official site.

Today's Brilliancy by Carlsen in Nice Round 3

Black to play ( 27..., Anand-Carlsen)

Blindfold round 3, Amber Tournament 2009, Nice France

Anand-Carlsen 0-1

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 4. O-O Bd7 5. Re1 Nf6 6. c3 a6 7. Bf1 Bg4 8. d3 e6 9. Nbd2 Be7 10. h3 Bh5 11. g4?! Bg6 12. Nh4 Nd7 13. Ng2 h5! 14. f4 hxg4 15. hxg4 Qc7 16. Nf3 O-O-O 17. Ne3 Nb6 18. Nc4 Nxc4 19. dxc4 f5 20. exf5 exf5 21. g5 Bf7 22. Qc2 g6 23. Qf2 d5! 24. cxd5 Bxd5 25. Be3 Bxg5! 26. Qg3 Be7 27. Bg2 g5! 28. Nxg5 Bxg5 29. Bxd5 Rxd5 30. Qxg5 Qf7 31. Kf2 Rh2 32. Kf1 Rd8 33. Qg3 Qc4! 34. Kg1 Rxb2 0-1

23..d5! aimed at opening lines. Classic reaction in the center against flank attack.

27..g5! with idea of opening column g. What's a pawn when you are attacking the king ?
25..Bg5! with idea 26 fg5 Bf3 27Qf3 Qh2#

34..Rb2 with idea 25..Rg8 decides the game.

Great attack by Magnus Carlsen today against the current world champion Anand.

Carlsen showed today an amazing ability to play complex and tactical positions in blindfold games. Anand's play was too aggressive on the king-side by pushing g4-g5 early on and got punished in great style. Lots of folks would be proud to play at the same level in a rapid game !

Amber Round 2 (Aronian-Leko, Rapid)

Today's masterpiece was created by Aronian.

Part I-White to play for the attack

Aronian-Leko Rapid 2

Part II-White to play and win

Aronian-Leko 1-0 Rapid (2)

-------------------

Solution Part II

White played 26 Rd1! Rf8 27 Rd5! Rf6 ?! 28 Qh7+ Kf8 29 Rg5! with idea Rg8#. Spectacular finish !

But 27..Nc6 was a marginally better defense, to stop the threat 28 Re5+. White would have to find 28 Qh7+ Kf6 29 Ne4+! Ke6 30 Rd6+ or 28..Ke6 28 Qe4+ Kf6 29 Rf5+!

http://www.amberchess2009.com/

You can find the pgn files and reports at the following websites as well:

http://www.theweekinchess.com/

http://www.chessvibes.com/

Amber 2009 Rapid round 1

Leko-Anand (Rapid, Amber 2009)
White to play and take the advantage

Full game replayable here
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?tid=67594&crosstable=1

Official Site: http://www.amberchess2009.com/

Nice ( Le Port )

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nice

Amber 2009 Round 1 (BLINDFOLD !)

Nice (picture)

ANAND-LEKO (BLINDFOLD, 2009 AMBER).

White to play and win

Full game replayable here
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?tid=67595&crosstable=1

official tournament site:

http://www.amberchess2009.com/

Tactics Quiz !

I: Black to play and win (Easy)

II White to play and win (Easy)

III White to play and win (Difficult)

IVWhite to play and win (Difficult)

V.Black to play and win (Easy)


VI White to play and win (Medium)



VII White to play and win (Easy)

Sources :
I (Kamsky-Karpov 1996) Analysis

II Karpov-Salov 1993
III Kamsky-Short 1994

IV Kasparov-Karpov 1992

V Adams-Kasparov 2005

VI (Tal-Mohrlock 1972) Analysis
VII(Tal-Andersson 1976) Analysis

For hints & suggestions please comment on the blog directly...

Amber 2008 game: Kramnik-Topalov

Kramnik-Topalov 2008, 1-0 Amber (Rapid)

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Na68. Be3 Ng4 9. Bg5 Qe8 10. Re1 exd4 11. Nd5 d3 12. Bxd3 c6 13. Ne7 Kh814. Nxc8 Rxc8 15. Bf1 Nc5 16. Qxd6 Nxe4 17. Qa3 f5 18. h3 Ne5 19. Bf4 Nd720. Qxa7 Bxb2 21. Rab1 Bg7 22. Qxb7 Ndc5 23. Qb6 Rf7 24. Ng5 Rb7 25. Qxb7! Nxb726. Rxb7 Kg8? 27. c5! h6 28. Bc4 Kh8 29. Be5 hxg5 30. Bxg7 Kh7 31. Bf8 Kh832. Be7 Rb8 33. Rxe4 1-0


This is the remarkable 2008 rapid Amber game between Kramnik and Topalov. Note White's 25th move with a strong attack in this King's Indian with 7..Na6.

Annotations and game replay here and here :

http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/files/amber2008_rd5.htm

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1488135

Link to the 2008 tournament:
http://www.amberchess2008.com


These two players will be present in the 2009 edition starting next week...

Next top chess tournament in Nice,France

Nice, France below

http://www.amberchess2009.com/
(Amber Chess Tournament 2009 Official Site)

18th Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournamentMarch 14-26, 2009 Nice, France



The twelve participants are (in alphabetical order):

World Champion Viswanathan Anand (India),

Levon Aronian (Armenia),

Magnus Carlsen (Norway),

Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine),

Gata Kamsky (United States),

Sergey Karjakin (Ukraine),

Vladimir Kramnik (Russia),

Peter Leko (Hungary),

Alexander Morozevich (Russia),

Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan),

Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria)

and Wang Yue (China).

Remarks:
I am highly appreciative of Mr Van Osterom, the Melody Amber sponsor for more than 15 years, as he helped create an original, entertaining and top-notch formula over the years. This tournament remains unique in many aspects (no ratings, blindfold chess) , whether it is played in Monaco (earlier years) or nowadays Nice. Vive la Cote d'Azur !

I do notice that the line-up is very prestigious and highly "correlated" with the Corus and Linares tournaments. For instance, Dominguez,Wang Yue, Radjabov,Aronian,Carlsen and Ivanchuk will play Corus, Linares and Amber back to back if I am not mistaken. While it is probably the strongest line-up one could think of, I would welcome the inclusion of the following top grandmasters:

H. NAKAMURA
E. BACROT
D. JAKOVENKO

as they have proven they can compete with the very best in rapid and classic tournaments. Also it would bring interesting match-ups varying from Corus and Linares.

Would you agree with this suggestion ?

Melody Amber Previous winners ( Overall)

Here's the list of winners (combined rapid+blindfold) and location of previous Amber Chess tournaments :

Nice, France
2008 Aronian

Monaco
2007 Kramnik
2006 Anand,Morozevich
2005 Anand
2004 Morozevich,Kramnik
2003 Anand
2002 Morozevich
2001 Kramnik,Topalov
2000 Shirov
1999 Kramnik
1998 Kramnik,Shirov
1997 Anand
1996 Kramnik
1995 Karpov
1994 Anand
1993 Ljubojevic
1992 Ivanchuk

Overall Kramnik won it 6 times and Anand 5 times ! Let's say that Morozevich, with 3 wins in the last 6 editions is more than a serious contender too.

Who will win the 2009 Amber edition ?
http://www.amberchess2009.com/

Linares ( Round 10) : Carlsen-Wang Yue

Click on the link below to play through the game:

Wang Yue played a fantastic game against Carlsen today in Linares.

Note his 32th move for instance, but the whole attack with the black pieces, isolated d-pawn reminds me of Kasparov youth games in the Tarrasch with Black ( Sunye Neto-Kasparov 1981 for instance)

Tactics in the bogo-indian

I White to play

can you work out an interesting tactial continuation ?

II White played 1.Rxb7 in the following position. Was that wise ?

Calculate well !